Black Students at Predominantly White Colleges: A Research Description.

Centra, John A.

The purpose of this report was to determine how background characteristics, activities, goals, and perceptions of black students at predominantly white colleges differed from their white counterparts. Findings were used from several sources, especially the "Questionnaire on Student and College Characteristics" (QSCC), as a basis for identifying the similarities and differences of a sample group of 249 black students at 83 traditionally white institutions and a matched group of white students, and they were related to other research evidence. Findings indicated that there were more similarities than would have been predictable. Black and white students were involved equally in over half of 25 extracurricular activities; they rated 8 possible goals in attending college similarly, with slightly fewer than half of both groups ranking the intellectual-academic goal first; and both groups perceived the general features of the college environment in the same way, though the "racial" environment was viewed quite differently. Black and white students differed in background characteristics; black students came from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and consequently had to rely on scholarship or part-time work as sources of financial support. A higher proportion of black students (82% vs. 74% of the white students) planned to attend graduate or professional school. (AF)